King Arthur

King Arthur the great by Caroline Jacoby

King Arthur riding his horse to a tournament.

The story of King Arthur, myth or legend, has made him a famous character of the Middle Ages. Historians bicker about the details of his life and the vast fable that he was created. There are many versions of King Arthur and his bold Knights of the Round Table. However, throughout, the story Arthur is always depicted as a hero. Arthur was born into a Welsh family, about 475 A.D. At the time, his parents lived in Tintengal Castle. It is still standing today in France. Arthur was raised at an abbey where his mom lived. Archeologists and historians have said that Arthur has moved all over France and England in his later years as an hero. Arthur’s family was very peculiar. Ygrne, Arthur’s mother was a nun, who lived in the abbey where Arthur was raised. Arthur’s dad, was at home in the castle, protected all of his people. He was a great fighter with a little help from Merlin. Arthur didn’t see his father much when he was younger because his dad was at the castle while he was in the abbey. Uther was a great fighter who defeated many other cities in battles. Arthur had one sister named Morgan Lee Fay. She was the ruler of Avalon, an island on a channel that separated Avalon from Camelot, the city where Arthur first became king and still was. Morgan’s personality had a happy side and a mean side. When Morgan was on her happy side she would be very nice and sweet. When she was on her mean side, she made storms go on all over Avalon. Sometimes, she would make the storms spread all the way over to Camelot and further. This would cause Arthur to stop whatever he was doing and go over to Avalon to soothe his sister. When Arthur was sixteen, he married Guinevere. She was a very shadowy figure, in the world of sorcery and magic. Before she married Arthur she was known to the townspeople as the devil’s daughter. She had the devil’s red hair and eyes. Also, both of Guinevere’s parents were demons who supported the devil to the highest degree. Merlin, Arthur’s sidekick, told Arthur not to marry Guinevere, because he knew that she had a little bit of devil in her blood, Merlin could just feel that bad things would happen. Arthur married her anyway, because she was pretty and sweet. Turns out, Merlin was right. One night the devil himself showed up on Arthur’s doorstep, demanding his life Merlin was basically the only reason that Arthur became famous. He was born in Carpathia, in Whales. Merlin’s parents were normal people living in the town of Carpathia. When Merlin was born his parents got very excited since he was their first born. They threw a party. The whole town of Carpathia was in their hut. After the party when Merlin’s parents were sleeping, a fairy, which was known to the town for casting appalling spells on baby and children, tiptoed into the cabin. She cast a spell on Merlin. Merlin had a very unusual childhood because of the spell. When he was young he ran away. Soon enough, Arthur met Merlin. When Merlin came to Camelot. Arthur was king. Merlin decided that Arthur needed help, so Merlin decided to make him the fourth ruler that he had helped. Merlin is immortal so he had all the time he wanted to live. Merlin is supposed to tell Arthur what to do. If Merlin told Arthur to do something, or to not do something, Arthur was supposed to do it. This didn’t work all the time but Merlin accomplished that by telling Arthur about life after death, if Arthur didn’t do as he said he would have a bad life after death. Merlin was very physic which came in handy sometimes. Once Arthur was fighting a battle in France against Sir Lancelot, his soon to be best friend/ fighting mate. Merlin was seeing into the future to see if Arthur was going to win. It turns out he saw Arthur slumped against a huge rock dead. Merlin cast a spell to move the rocks to England and it is now The Stonehenge. Arthur had many friends in his tales because everybody wanted to get to know him. When famous kings heard the story of Arthur, they added on their own details so that they could be part of the story. It kept going down the line so it was often a completely different story of. In the tales of Arthur and Lancelot they would talk strategy and how to beat this knight and that. Sir Lancelot was almost as good as Arthur. Tristan and Isolde were King Arthur’s friends. They always tricked him by changing from a girl to a boy. They also used this as a weapon in wars because they could morph into another person. They were very good at counseling Arthur about magic and sorcery and when to use it. The round table was a big piece of Arthur’s story. The reason it is special is because it was round. The table was round so that all of Arthur’s knights who sat at a table with him to eat would feel equal because nobody was at the head of the table. Arthur thought this was important because Arthur said frequently to his knights, “No knight is as good as I.” The round table was given to Arthur as a gift for his marriage to Guinevere. A poet named, Ace, first mentioned the round table in his poetry around 1155 A.D. Many other kings and queens told their people that they have sat at Arthur’s round table and ate with his knights because it would make him or her more popular with the commoners. There have been many arguments on how many people could be seated at the round table. The numbers were twenty-four, fifty, one hundred and forty, one hundred and fifty, two hundred, two hundred and fifty, or one thousand and six hundred. There is no way we can know for sure how many knights had the luxury of sitting at the table with Arthur. There is a round table hanging up in a castle in England that the owners say was the round table that Arthur and his knights sat at and dined three times a day, but there is no way of knowing. Arthur had great skill in fighting in military. Arthur was training to become a knight but thought that being a fighting king would be even better. There was nothing like a good tournament. Tournaments were people’s main source of entertainment. People would fight each other on land or on horseback. Sometimes they fought until death or until one surrendered. Arthur was the best fighter of his time. He would beat every person who dared to try. On all of his armor and coat of arms was a dragon breathing fire. That was supposed to mean strength and courage. When Arthur wanted to become king, instead of having vote they had a tournament. Of course, Arthur won. Nobody would surrender, so Arthur ended up killing everybody. You would think that with a king like Arthur you would have many wars, but Arthur made peace that Camelot had never seen. Eventually Arthur’s plans were to take over the world. Already, had most of Western Europe covered. He never got to put those plans into action because he died. His final battle that was at Baden in 517 A.D. and his closing battle where he died at the battle were at Camelan with Morgan in 517 A.D. Morgan killed Arthur in the war. Many people believed that Arthur was immortal and when he did die they thought he went into hiding. Merlin also mysteriously vanished right after Arthur was killed. We don’t know who created Arthur or how he became so famous or if there even was a King Arthur. What we do know is that he was a courageous character that saved many people’s lives with the Knights of the Round Table. We still have no idea whether he was real or not. King Arthur probably would have kept a journal or a diary of all the great experiences that he had. The only resources we have are the books that people have left behind telling of Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table.